Shailene Woodley Once Shared Why Her ‘Divergent’ Character Wasn’t an Action Hero
Shailene Woodley once led her own blockbuster franchise in the Divergent series. But despite the movies belonging to the sci-fi action genre, Woodley was hesitant to label her character an action hero.
Shailene Woodley didn’t consider her ‘Divergent’ character to be a traditional action hero
Woodley joined the ranks of many female action stars when she was cast in the Divergent series. It was an opportunity that she was well aware of when she climbed on board the young adult series. But she also believed Divergent could help make female action heroes more relevant in the film industry again.
“I feel like we’ve skipped a generation,” Woodley once told Bust. “We had, like, the Ashley Judds, the Sigourney Weavers, the Demi Moores, and then it sort of faded and went into [a period of] making women appear dumb, like they had no worth in the intelligence arena. Now there’s this reemergence, and the fact that I get to be part of another cycle is so exciting. I plan to do some major s*** with it.”
At the same time, Woodley felt her character Tris stood out from past action heroes in a unique way.
“I never saw [Tris] as a superhero or action star. She’s a normal young woman who had to figure herself out and help the community around her,” she once said according to Contact Music.
Shailene Woodley did ‘Divergent’ in order to do smaller movies
Starring in huge franchises to fund smaller projects isn’t unheard of, and it was an idea Woodley kept in mind. The Descendants star was cautious about jumping into Divergent at first due to the impact it might have on her career.
“I’ve been acting since I was 5, so it’s not overnight for me. It was 15 years before someone offered me a blockbuster,” Woodley once told Orange County Registry. “I struggled with the offer of Divergent, and I even told my agents that I wasn’t going to do it. I never wanted this. I love the life I lead. I never wanted to give up my anonymity. I don’t want to have to worry about going to a farmer’s market and worry about paparazzi. I don’t want this in my life.”
She went to a few that she trusted for advice on the huge decision.
“I talked to a lot of people I respect, like George Clooney and Alexander Payne [director of The Descendants], and they all said to do it. Not one person hesitated. But no one said to do it because it would make me famous. They all said to do it because it would allow me to do small, personal movies,” she said.
She also went to Jennifer Lawrence for advice, whose Hunger Games fame might’ve foreshadowed Woodley’s own Divergent success.
“I feel like if Divergent does real well, things will definitely change. Just using Jen Lawrence as an example, things changed for her. Divergent doesn’t open until March, so I don’t expect any changes until then,” she said.
Shailene Woodley considered quitting acting after ‘Divergent’
Woodley’s Divergent series might’ve fallen a bit below expectations. Although it started off promisingly, the last film in the trilogy generated much less money than its first two predecessors. Critics also didn’t look at the movies too favorably. After the debacle of the Divergent franchise, Woodley felt she needed a slight change in her career.
“The last one was a bit of a hard experience for everyone, and that was really what made me think I need to have some human experiences outside of this industry and fall in love with acting again, and Big Little Lies did that for me,” Woodley once told Net-A-Porter.
